Shropshire villagers to fill in their own potholes in pilot scheme

Residents in a leafy area of Shropshire may soon be filling in potholes themselves as part of a new pilot scheme aimed at empowering local people.

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Shropshire Council is working with Church Preen, Hughley & Kenley Parish Council, to trial a new community led ‘road warden’ scheme, giving local people a greater role in keeping their roads, verges and public spaces safe, clean and well maintained.

The scheme will enable trained volunteers, coordinated by the parish council, to carry out a range of small scale highway and street scene tasks at agreed locations across the parish.

The idea was first mooted earlier this year, and the pilot has now been announced and is designed to tackle minor issues more quickly, improve the appearance of the local area and strengthen partnership working between communities and the council.

The pilot scheme is based on the Devon Road Warden Scheme which has been running successfully for several years, with several parishes taking on agreed local road maintenance functions in collaboration with Devon County Council.

Under the scheme, volunteers will be able to carry out clearly defined, low-risk activities such as litter picking, sign cleaning, minor vegetation trimming, leaf clearance and the reporting of highway defects.

In limited, approved circumstances, volunteers may also undertake very small pothole repairs on footways and quiet roads using cold lay materials.

A key first task is to ‘get the water off the roads’ by fixing ditches and drains to clear road surfaces of water, helping to prevent potholes and enabling maintenance work to be carried out.

Priorities have been identified through lane-by-lane surveys conducted by the parish council.

The council said all activity will operate within a robust governance framework, as with the proven Devon scheme.

Volunteers will receive appropriate training, wear mandatory personal protective equipment and work only within a tightly controlled scope. Activities involving live carriageways, working at height or power tools will not be permitted unless specifically authorised.

David Vasmer, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and environment, said: “This pilot scheme offers a number of benefits, including a faster response to small issues, more cost-effective maintenance that will reduce the pressure on Shropshire Council resources, and cleaner, safer and more attractive roads and verges. It will also strengthen the relationship between Shropshire Council and the parish council, ensuring shared responsibility for public spaces.

“If other parish councils are interested in setting up their own road warden scheme I encourage them to contact us.”

Chris Naylor, Shropshire Councillor for Burnell, said: “We’ve been working towards this for a year now: my first parish council meeting here said ‘we want to help fix our roads locally, as our councillor please help us do that’.

“So I’m very pleased that Shropshire Council officers have been supportive, arranging training, kit and signs for our new road wardens. My greatest thanks is to local volunteers including farmers, builders, parish councillors who are kindly giving up precious time to clear muddy ditches and get muck out of drains: to ‘get the water off the roads’, so the council can get on with necessary maintenance.”

Richard Roycroft, chair of Church Preen, Hughley & Kenley Parish Council, added: “We’re very concerned about the state of our lanes here locally. Residents understandably complain about road surface and pothole problems. Visitors often sadly incur tyre and wheel damage and local businesses suffer.

“So we’re keen to do our bit here to ‘get the water off the roads’ – then Shropshire Council can come and fix the lanes. I’ve been checking ditches and drains and clearing those is top priority. We were delighted to get nearly 40 residents to a local volunteers meeting. We’ve now had our training and we’re very pleased to be making a start.”

The next phase of developing partnership working with parish and town councils will be lead by Alex Wagner, deputy Leader of Shropshire Council.

Local MP Stuart Anderson has welcomed the initiative.

He said: “I launched my Road Safety Campaign in August 2024 because residents were clear that our rural roads needed urgent attention. I urged key partners to take more action and wrote to the Transport Secretary calling for rural roads to be prioritised.

“After running numerous surveys and receiving consistent correspondence from constituents on this issue, I hosted a debate in Parliament to bring greater attention to the dire state of our roads.

“Residents in villages like Church Preen, Hughley and Kenley are fed up with potholes, blocked drains and delays to basic maintenance. I have met with this community and have been working with numerous local parish councils to secure a Road Warden scheme for South Shropshire.

“This scheme puts local people in the driving seat to fix small problems fast, before they become big ones. I hope to see this rolled out to more parishes across South Shropshire once the pilot proves its worth. This road warden pilot is exactly the kind of practical, community-driven action we need.”